Healthcare in Paraguay

There is a huge difference between public and private health insurance in Paraguay. You would want private health insurance. Public health won't pay for much at all, and you will be asked to cover the cost of x-rays, medications, etc. Also, public hospitals are not anywhere near the quality of private hospitals or sanatorios. The best local hospitals in Asuncion are sanatorio San Roque, sanatorio Migone, hospital la Costa, etc. They can orient you as to how to purchase private health insurance in Asuncion. There are different plans and their coverage differ depending on how much you decide to pay and buy.

Just posted this in another thread but realized it is applicable here too:

If you are going to be here long term (more than a year) you might consider getting private health insurance.  Unlike in the US health insurance here covers the small stuff - doctorŽs visits, etc but not large things like dialysis.  If you want to cover all your bases youŽll need both a normal plan and a "alta complejidad" plan.  Popular health insurance companies are Oami and Asismed and, given the relatively low cost it is definitely recommended. If you plan to travel around Paraguay be sure to check with each company as to their countrywide coverage - some have very little coverage outside of Asunción.

That said, if you are going to be here short term you will find that for most procedures, appointments, etc in the private health sector the cost is relatively low (for a foreigner) so paying out of pocket may not be a big deal.

Natalia
www.discoveringparaguay.com

Hi,

In order to help expats and soon-to-be expats, we would like to invite you to share your experience on this topic, with updated info on the healthcare system.

Thank you in advance,

Julie
Expat.com Team

I need to learn about this as well as I have some health problems and if I get close to death I don't want like a 50,000 usd hospital bill which I can't pay so I need to find some insurance with an agent there who speaks English.

SeekingParaguay wrote:

I need to learn about this as well as I have some health problems and if I get close to death I don't want like a 50,000 usd hospital bill which I can't pay so I need to find some insurance with an agent there who speaks English.

Prudent thing to do is not to depend on public health service and secure private health insurance.   This is not very expensive but it does contain preexisting conditions exclusion.   For the time being, you may want to consider keeping your current canadian coverage and jump on a first plane before you get into serious troubles.